As Associate Managing Director, I'm responsible for driving impactful PR strategies for leading food, wine, and spirits brands while overseeing finance & operations.

R&D Category Manager for UFS Dressings portfolio, including Hellmann's/Best Foods, Sir Kensington's, and Maille.

Senior Product Developer and Technical Project Lead responsible for the innovation/commercialization, renovation, and 5S of Condiment products (including Mayonnaise, Salad Dressings, Ketchup/Mustard) for North America and SAP PLM Super User for NA UFS R&D Team.

Innovation Product Developer and Technical Project Lead responsible for the innovation and commercialization of Savory products for NA Retail and SAP PLM Super User for NA Foods R&D Team, reporting to the R&D Savory Manager.Leadership of cross-functional teams (Regulatory, Packaging, Brand, Supply Chain, Quality, Manufacturing) to ensure engagement leading to timely and successful delivery of projects for NA Retail business.Conduct technical risk assessments with cross-functional teams at every gate stage from concept through product launch and communicate risks to key stakeholders.Organize and lead bench-top trials, pilot plant and production trials in cooperation with the factory to support quality, value improvement, and complexity reduction initiatives.Lead the process of specification creation in SAP PLM through approved status for all new products to be launched and new ingredients to our portfolio. Manage various technical aspects of projects as required such as competitive product analysis, shelf life studies, consumer testing, claims dossier, and product experience toolkits.AchievementsDeveloped and commercialized 5 new SKUs under our Knorr Selects line for US/CA, valued at over $12MM USD, from 2016-2018.Delivered 5S formulation changes in 2 top SKUs, including a full spectrum CTI and CMI analysis and validation testing, combined achieving over 5% GM improvement and annual savings of over $500K USD in 2018.Led technical and digital milestones to implement 5S initiatives in an accelerated timeline, achieving $800K USD in annual savings in 2018.Supported the commercialization of our Growing Roots Corn & Seed Bites for US, new brand under our snacking portfolio, led by the Foods Transformation team from 2017-2019.Co-organized our first Future of Foods event in 2018, which allowed us to identify partnerships with 16 third party manufacturers nationwide.

Design and execute innovation products according to the product brief to achieve cost targets, claims, nutritional profile, ingredient statement, and desired flavor attributes of the target product.Support value improvement initiatives and supply chain efficiency projects by identifying and implementing innovative solutions through modification of ingredients, formulations, and process.Drive SAP PLM culture within the team and build user confidence within R&D organization through quarterly system upgrades and continuous end-user training.

Savory Team Lead for NA Retail and SAP PLM Super User, reporting to the Global Specifications Manager.Drove critical data input for accurate and complete entry of new/existing product specifications and formulas and ingredient specifications to support Innovation and Operations projects.Interfaced daily with R&D, Supply Chain, Factory, and Contract Manufacturers to deliver accurate data flow and project timeliness.Generated co-packer and re-packer manuals for Contract Manufacturers and extended category products to appropriate manufacturing plants using SAP and InterSpec.Communicated with suppliers to request, compile, and review critical documentation for ingredient specifications. Supported digital agenda through implementation of SAP PLM, including data scrubbing and user acceptance testing.Coordinated and managed weekly team meetings to align on ways of working and discuss challenges and areas of improvement to ensure business needs are met.AchievementsSupported the transition to our new manufacturing facility by leading the full hierarchy specification set-up of 157 SKUs across our Savoury portfolio in 2015.Led the NA Specification Team to achieve 98.6% specification readiness, allowing for a seamless transition from Interspec to SAP PLM from 2015-2016.Trained 100+ R&D employees on system functionality, ways of working, troubleshooting and led weekly lunch and learn sessions to support transition in 2016.

Technical Documentation Specialist, reporting to the VP of Quality Assurance.Interpreted daily customer technical requests and authored standard documents in response to customer inquiries regarding raw materials, including product data sheets, nutritional profile, technical statements, Safety Data Sheets, etc.Managed and updated supplier documentation for raw material database, including review and follow-up of missing documentation and information.Reviewed and applied for raw materials under company’s USDA Organic and Kosher certifications and maintained status by supporting audit and inspection events and coordinating preparational tasks.

Supported Specification Management Team with the implementation of local and global ingredients and in executing R&D and Supply Chain initiatives.Communicated with suppliers to compile and review critical documentation for ingredient specifications, enabling Global Product Compliance to complete label and formula approval.Maintained quality specifications, performed various data entry tasks and data pulls from Interspec, and developed reports and spreadsheets to communicate new formulas and specifications. AchievementsDelivered project one month ahead of timeline by efficiently generating over 1000 copacker/repacker manuals, delegated by the project team.Trained new contractor by introducing business software to create a seamless transition for the project team and to maintain critical deadlines.